Mahoning grand jury indicts man for attempted murder

A Mahoning County grand jury indicted one man accused of attempted murder, another accused of cruelty to animals, a man accused of stealing high-end firearms, and a man charged with ramming his tractor-trailer into a strip club.

The indictments were handed up Thursday.

Jamar Berry, 32, of Neilson Avenue, is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of felonious assault, aggravated burglary and kidnapping.

The charges stem from an incident earlier this month where Berry reportedly robbed two women at a home on Craiger Avenue, removing one of them from the house. The attempted murder charges stem from Berry’s actions against the same two women.

William Bednar, 56, of North Meridian Road, is charged with two felony counts of prohibitions concerning companion animals. The charges are elevated to felonies because Bednar has prior convictions for animal cruelty.

Bednar, who was said to be homeless at the time, was found pushing a cart filled with dead animals and two syringes downtown in early February. That shopping cart contained dead puppies and a peregrine falcon.

Brett McFarland, 19, of McGuffey Boulevard, is charged with breaking and entering and 10 counts of grand theft with the burglary and theft of high-end firearms from a South Side firearms dealer in September.

McFarland is believed to be one of three men who broke into AAA Customs, a licensed firearms dealer, and stole several dozen guns. The indictment lists automatic and semiautomatic guns believed to have been taken.

Suren Aramyan, 44, of Las Vegas, was indicted on one charge of felonious assault and one charge of vandalism after reportedly running his truck into the Club 76 strip club in Austintown in November.

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